Latest News from the World of Digital Marketing – June 2024 Part 5
Welcome to our latest blog post, where we explore the most impactful news in digital marketing. In a world where trends and technologies are evolving at a dizzying pace, staying on top of the latest developments is vital for any industry professional. This week, we’ve compiled and synthesized the most relevant developments that are shaping the future of digital marketing.
From technological innovations to changes in the policies of major platforms, our roundup will give you a clear and concise overview of what’s happening in this dynamic field. Get ready to discover emerging trends, the most effective strategies and key moves by industry giants. This presentation will give you a competitive edge, allowing you to adapt and optimize your strategies to stay one step ahead. Join us on this journey through the most exciting developments in digital marketing!
Goodbye to infinite scrolling in Google search results
Google has decided to end the infinite scroll feature in search results, according to a report from Search Engine Land. This user experience, which mimicked the endless scrolling behavior of social networks, was introduced in October 2021 for mobile devices and rolled out to desktop searches by the end of 2022.
A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that infinite scroll will be removed from desktop search results immediately, while the feature will be removed from mobile results βin the coming months.β
In place of the infinite scroll on desktop, Google will re-implement its classic paging bar, allowing users to jump to a specific page in the search results or simply click βNextβ to view the next page. On mobile devices, a βMore resultsβ button will appear at the bottom of the search to load the next page.
As explained from Google, this change is intended to allow the search company to deliver results faster on more searches, rather than automatically loading results that users have not explicitly requested.
The move reflects a renewed focus on optimizing load time and search accuracy, adapting to the changing needs of users in an ever-evolving digital environment.
Artificial Intelligence
Dream Machine AI: Create hyper-realistic videos with Luma AI
OpenAI made headlines when it introduced Sora last February. This text-to-video AI is impressive in its capabilities and, while not the first of its kind, offers some of the best results to date. Although Sora has yet to launch, Dream Machine AI is now available for anyone who wants to use it. And it’s free – read on to learn more!
What is Dream Machine AI?
This is the dream machine. That’s the name of Luma Labs’ next-generation AI model and, like many other next-generation AI models, its operation is simple: users enter text explaining what they want to create and the AI does the rest. It creates a five-second clip at a fairly high speed.
Dream Machine AI is designed to be a scalable and efficient model that better understands how humans, animals and objects interact with the physical world and represents motion in a compelling way. According to Luma Labs, Dream Machine AI is capable of creating physically accurate, consistent and action-packed videos.
It also highlighted its cinematic nature for its infinite variety of fluid, cinematic and natural camera movements, appropriate to the concept and content of the shot. To try it out, simply sign up on the Luma Labs website, which allows you to create 30 free videos per month.
They can be created by entering a suggestion, currently required in English, which the AI will automatically convert and correct if this option is not disabled, or by uploading an image to get a 120-frame, 5-second-long video. Installation will take two minutes, but high demand will increase installation time.
Google spam update begins
Google’s latest algorithm change, the June 2024 Spam Update, focuses on junk content and practices that degrade the quality of search results. Here’s a detailed summary of this update and its potential impact on your website.
The core of the update
Google’s June 2024 Spam Update aims to improve its ability to detect and degrade spammy websites and content. This update is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to improve the user experience by ensuring that search results are relevant, reliable and free of manipulative tactics. The primary goal is to penalize websites that use black hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing, cloaking and the use of low quality backlinks.
Key changes and their implications
- Improved spam detection: The update incorporates advanced machine learning algorithms to better identify spam content. Websites employing outdated SEO tactics will likely see a drop in rankings.
- Quality over quantity: Emphasis continues to be placed on valuable, high-quality content. Websites that provide useful, well-researched and original content are expected to benefit from this update.
- Quality of backlinks: The focus is now on quality rather than quantity of backlinks. Sites with spammy or irrelevant backlinks may see their search rankings decrease.
- User Experience: Google continues to prioritize user experience. Websites that load quickly, are mobile-friendly and offer a smooth browsing experience are more likely to rank higher in search.
How to adapt to the upgrade
- Audit your content: Regularly review your website content to ensure it meets Google’s quality standards. Remove or update outdated and low-quality content.
- Focus on high quality backlinks: Develop a backlink strategy that focuses on acquiring links from reputable and relevant websites. Avoid buying links or participating in link schemes.
- Improve user experience: Improve site speed, ensure compatibility with mobile devices, and create a user-friendly interface to improve the overall user experience.
- Keep up to date with SEO best practices: SEO is an ever-changing field. Stay informed about the latest updates and best practices by following reliable SEO resources and communities.
streaming
Netflix for free? The company evaluates an ad-supported model to expand its audience
Netflix has internally considered offering a free subscription plan in specific markets, modeled after traditional ad-supported TV channels, with the goal of expanding its audience.
This idea arose after an experiment in Kenya, where a free plan was tested for smartphones that gave access to a limited catalog without ads, seeking to encourage users to try the service and eventually subscribe to a paid mode.
Although this free plan was withdrawn last year, its viability in larger markets remains a matter of internal debate.
Sources familiar with these plans have shared with ‘Bloomberg’ that Netflix executives have considered implementing a free version in regions such as Europe and Asia, especially in markets where there are free-to-air networks that sell advertising.
The interest behind this model also relates to the advertising business. Netflix has already introduced a standard plan with ads, but with a slightly different approach than competitors such as Disney and Amazon.
artificial intelligence
OpenAI acquisition that could change marketing
OpenAI has acquired Rockset’s technology, which could set the stage for the next wave of innovations in digital marketing. According to the source, this acquisition will enable new products, real-time data analytics and recommender systems, which could signal a new phase for OpenAI that could change the search marketing landscape in the near future.
What is Rockset and why is it important?
Rockset describes its technology as Hybrid Search, a multifaceted approach that integrates vector search, text search and metadata filtering to retrieve documents that can improve the generation process in RAG systems. According to the source, RAG is a technique that combines search with generative artificial intelligence, aimed at creating more accurate and contextually relevant results.
Rockset’s research paper on Hybrid Search Architecture notes that “all vector search is becoming hybrid search as it drives the most relevant real-time application experiences. Hybrid search involves incorporating vector and text search, as well as metadata filtering, all in a single query.”
What makes Rockset’s hybrid search important is that it enables the indexing and use of multiple data types (vector, text, geospatial data about objects and events), including the use of real-time data. This flexibility allows the technology to interact with different types of data that can be used for internal and consumer-facing applications related to contextually relevant product recommendations, customer segmentation and analytics for targeted marketing campaigns, personalization, personalized content aggregation, location-based recommendations (restaurants, services, etc.) and in applications that increase user interaction.
In short
Latest Tech and Digital Marketing Updates
πGoogle integrates Gemini into Gmail to help compose and summarize emails as well as Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive. Although this will only be available to Google Workspace and Google One AI Premium subscribers.
π And Google Ads updates search query matching, with the goal of improving the performance of your ads and giving you more control over the traffic coming to you.
π Musk continues with changes to X. Starting soon, the option to create live video streams will only be available to Premium subscribers.
πAmazon wants its own ChatGPT. It is working on Metis, a chatbot capable of responding and having text- and image-based conversations. No one wants to be left behind here.
π TikTok’s new app is not off to a great start. Whee, the app they recently launched that works similar to Instagram and is connected to TikTok, hasn’t had many downloads. And they haven’t even advertised in the App Storeβ¦.
π Toys “R” Us is the first brand to use Sora. This is the first ad created with OpenAI’s video-generating AI by a brand. Want to see the result? I’ll leave it here.
π Anthropic launches Claude 3.5 Sonnet: βthe fastest and most human AI”. It outperforms GPT-4o in several key points, and you can also upload documents or files and ask it for summaries or ideas to improve them. To try it out, at this link.
π Apple Intelligence will be a long time coming. In Europe, Apple has delayed the launch of all the new Artificial Intelligence in its products. We will have to wait until 2025.
π Let it not be because it has not been said. Universal Analytics closes on July 1, so if you haven’t yet transitioned to Google Analytics 4 to keep your historical data safe, there’s still time!
π Metricool’s 2024 social media study is here. And among its most important conclusions, it can be highlighted that Instagram’s algorithm is giving prominence to smaller accounts, that Twitch falls and falls more and more and that the vertical video format is on fire.
π Starbucks and Max partnership: βMax Nights, Starbucks Mornings.β They’ve taken names from The Dragon House series and slapped them on the franchise’s coffees and teas for this week only. We’d tell you some names, but spoilers are not allowed in this house.
π So simple it catches the eye. A TV commercial where a 15-second countdown and a QR code appears. Simplicity and generating uncertainty when you give a message, can give you success. And hey, if you want to see itβ¦.